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Wiki Wednesday: Transit and the Stimulus
Today we've got a work in progress started by Livable Streets member Adina Levin, who's tracking the status of transit funding in the stimulus bill. The entry's a little skeletal at the moment, but once it fills out, this should be one of the more significant additions to StreetsWiki. Keeping up with the twists and turns of this bill -- its different iterations and the people behind those changes -- could make this a valuable reference as the current legislation takes shape, and as debate ramps up over the big transportation reauthorization later this year.
January 21, 2009
Senate Set to Confirm LaHood as Transportation Secretary
Looks like Ray LaHood will sail toward an easy confirmation in the Senate. Members of the Transportation Committee were congratulating him before he opened his mouth at this afternoon's nomination hearing, which just adjourned. Here are some bullet points:
January 21, 2009
Did Team Obama Gut Transit Funds From the Stimulus Package?
Reporting on last week's stimulus letdown -- when a proposal by US Rep. James Oberstar's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for $17 billion in mass transit spending was slashed by the Appropriations Committee, while $30 billion in proposed allocations for roads and bridges remained the same -- Grist got word that the then-incoming Obama administration may have had a hand in paring down the transportation package.
January 21, 2009
Stimulus Draft, the Day After
For everyone hoping that an $825 billion stimulus package might advance a visionary national agenda for sustainable transportation, yesterday's release of a draft economic recovery bill didn't deliver the goods. Nor did it include some pretty easy lifts, like the $1.7 billion for transit operations that the House approved in an earlier bill last summer.
January 16, 2009
Dems Release Stimulus Draft: $30B for Highways, $10B for Transit
Via Greater Greater Washington, the Huffington Post is reporting that House Democrats have released a draft summary of an economic stimulus bill, and at first blush there's little for green transportation advocates to cheer. $30 billion is slated for highways, $10 billion for transit -- a marginal improvement over the longstanding 80/20 split in federal funding. Check after the jump for more details.
January 15, 2009
New York City Wins the 2009 Sustainable Transport Award
Madison Square: Before and After.
January 13, 2009
$2 Billion for Bicycling in Stimulus Package?
The most tantalizing tidbit in today's Times profile of Earl Blumenauer comes from fellow cycling Congressman James Oberstar:
January 13, 2009
Bloomberg to Obama: Stimulus Aid Should Go Directly to Cities
Yesterday the President-elect unveiled the broad strokes of his economic recovery plan at a DC press event, and Mayor Bloomberg was there to give his response. Bloomberg's message is critical for the prospects of green transportation in the upcoming stimulus package. Here's the abbreviated version via Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics:
January 9, 2009
Chicago Loses NYC’s Congestion Pricing Money
Looks like New York legislators aren't the only ones willing to pass up big money for transportation improvements if it means putting a fair price on private auto use.
January 9, 2009
Quick Impressions of the MTA’s Sustainability Report
This afternoon the MTA released a draft of its eagerly anticipated sustainability report, which has been in the works since September 2007. The product of a "blue ribbon commission" featuring heavy hitters in the transportation world, the report reads like the MTA's version of NYCDOT's "Sustainable Streets" strategic plan.
January 8, 2009